Plain Biryani

What is a festive food? Its Biryani! For a long time I wanted to do some justice to my blog and this is it!
Actually biryani is a long process.I have already posted an oven baked biryani.It takes nearly 3 hrs. But this one is easy and simple. Just boil a few eggs,roast it on a pan and add it to the plain biryani. A potato fry with raita will also do good.Actually My daughter likes it colorful, so I added 2 tsps of kashmiri chilli powder.

Give it a try during the weekend!

Plain Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati rice- 2 cups
onion - 2 medium sliced
tomato- 1 sliced
cloves- 2
cinnamon stick- 1"
bay leaves-2
green chillies- slit 2
curd 1/4 cup
lemon juice- 1tbsp
ginger garlic - 1 tbsp
red chilli powder- 1 tsp
Biryani masala - 2 tsp
coriander powder- 1 tbsp
 mint leaves-  a handful
coriander leaves- a handful
oil- 3 tbsp
salt to taste

Method:

Wash and soak Basmati rice for 20 min.
Heat oil in heavy bottomed vessel.When hot add bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon stick.
Now add onions, saute for few minutes.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute well.
Now add tomatoes and saute until soft.
Now add all the masalas and saute for 2-3 min.
Add curd and check for salt.
Add mint leaves,coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Now add 4 cups of water along with rice.
Let it boil.Now simmer the heat ,cover and cook for 15 min.
Put off the stove and leave it undisturbed for 1 hr.
Garnish it with fried cashews and raisins.
Fluff it with a fork not with laddle.

Enjoy your Sunday Lunch!

Pappas (tiger prawns in coconut milk)

This is also one of the attractions during Onam festive season.

prawns-1lb
oil- 4tbsp
mustard seeds- 14/tsp
fenugreek seeds- 6
onion- 1 large finely chopped

ginger-1 tsp grated
garlic - 5 cloves chopped
green chillies- 3 chopped
salt- 1tsp
coconut milk- 1/2 cup
curry leaves- 10
tamarind/lime juice-1 1/2 tbsp

To grind:
coriander seeds- 1tbsp
red chillies-6
peppercorns-1/2tsp

Method:
Grind coriander, red chillies and peppercorns into a fine paste .
Cook prawns until done in some water.(6 minutes).

Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds.
Now add fenugreek seeds,onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Fry until onions are light brown.(10/minutes).

Add ground paste and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add prawns and salt.
Now add coconut milk, curry leaves and cook on medium heat for 6 minutes.
Stir in tamarind juice and and boil for a minute.
Remove from heat and serve with plain rice.

Mysorpak

Hmm! Who doesn't like Mysorpak? The most wanted sweet by all! I have tried it 4-5 times .Every time I try  it is either hard or crunchy. But this time it turned out as soft as Krishna Sweets Mysorpak. Actually it used to be a big deal in those days.We had experienced people come over to our home and make sweets and savories for Diwali! You need two people to make this sweet.But these days it easy.The amount of time, the besan is roasted also gives the right color. If you roast it for more time, it might turn a dark brown color.Even the sugar syrup must be right, otherwise it will turn into hard candy. To make sure that it is the perfect consistency, follow the String method. Confused? The String Method is whenever you touch the sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger, it should form a single string.

Mysorpak

Ingredients

Besan-1 cup
sugar-1 cup
ghee-1 cup
water 1/4 cup

Method:
Sieve the flour.
In a non stick pan roast the besan with 1 tsp ghee for 3 min until raw smell goes.
In a bowl add the besan and 3/4 cup of ghee and mix well until no lumps are there.
Keep it aside for 15-20 min.Now take a large plate with rim and grease it with ghee
In a big non stick pan add water and sugar. Boil on medium heat until you get one string consistency.
Now add the liquid besan into the pan. And stir continuously by adding  the remaining ghee,1 tsp at a time.
Stir until the mixture does not stick to the pan. For me it took about 5-6 minutes.
Now pour this hot mixture into the greased plate. Allow it cool and cut it into desired shape.

Pepper Rasam

This is a soup good for cold, cough and sore throat remedies. Its very easy to make . It takes hardly 10 min to make.And a comforting soup during rainy days or winter time. I learnt this from my mom. But I have made a little change in that.

Pepper Rasam

Ingredients

To Grind
Pepper corns- 1tsp
Toor dhal- 1tbsp or horse gram - 1tbsp (optional)( its called kollu paruppu in Tamil)

Garlic- 6-8 cloves( with skin)

Jeera - 1tsp
red chili- 1
tamarind - a small ball size
Water- 2 1/2  cups

To Temper
Ghee- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds -1/4 tsp
curry leaves
asafoetida- a pinch
turmeric pwd- 1/4 tsp

Method:

Soak tamarind and extract pulp. Add water and set aside.
Roast toor dhal, red chili,pepper garlic,jeera ,along with  it add garlic and crush coarsely.
Heat ghee in a kadai, when hot add mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing, and the pepper garlic mixture.
Saute for 30 secs. Add tamarind extract with water, turmeric pwd and salt.
Let it boil for 5 min (don't over boil it, it might turn bitter) .
Serve hot with rice or have it as a soup with papad.